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FreeCharge Secures Series B Funding [DealCurry (India)]

(DealCurry (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Freecharge, an online platform for recharge, utility payments, promotions and couponing, has raised $33 Mn (c.INR 2,000 Mn) from existing investor @SequoiaCapIndia along with new investors Belgium-based investment firm Sofina and Russian Internet and technology investor @ru_Net1. The Series B infusion will be taken to build up its transactional advertising offerings.

It had previously raised INR 200 Mn from Sequoia in 2012.

The company, a unit of @Accelyst_Solutions has added Gokul Rajaram (creator of Adsense), Koh Boon Hwee, Dhiraj Rajaram (MuSigma CEO) to its board of advisors.

The portal founded by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandaon in 2010, isn't a mere recharge site. It tracks online and offline purchase behaviour of consumers by offering incentives and coupons to users to transact on its platform.

Its recent collaboration with Britannia and Pepsi where consumers buying a product offline received free talk time redeemable on the site and getting cash back into their mobile wallets after purchasing goods on third-party sites like Myntra or MakeMyTrip are some of its propositions to attract consumers and increase its user base. The commission from these brands also get added to its revenue. Some of the other brands include McDonalds, Domino's Pizza, PVR.

The company has more than 10 million registered users and is targeting one million transactions a day by March.

It had recently acquired PreBurn , making it the second acquisition after Wishberg.